Hammer Films Month Screengrab Challenge Winners!

Remember that one time when you joined that screengrab challenge at FMWL?  Well, if you do, you're a winner.   That's right, we had two prizes and only had two entrants.

I'm hoping that either a) my screengrabs were just ridiculously hard; or b) everyone hates me and doesn't read the site anymore.  I'd rather believe that one of those reasons is true, and not c) nobody wants some awesome Hammer flicks.  Let's recap:

The Prizes:  The Runner-Up (aka: Second Place; aka: The First Loser) will receive.......

Warner Brothers' Four Film Favorites DRACULA collection, featuring FOUR! Hammer flicks that star Christopher Lee as Dracula!

The WINNER (aka: Numero Uno; aka: The Grand Poobah) will receive the same prize as the Runner-Up.  PLUS the winner will receive......

Universal's Hammer Horror Series DVD set, including a whopping EIGHT Hammer flicks!

The Winners:

Second Place goes to.......R.D. Penning of Dead End Drive-In!


And First Place goes to........Trick Or Treat Pete of Deadly Serious!


I'll be in touch via email to set up delivery of prizes!  Thanks for playing!




Oh?  You want the answers?  Fair enough.

The Screencaps:

13 Ghosts (original)

The Haunting

Dead and Buried

The People Under the Stairs

Blood and Black Lace

Lake Mungo

The Changeling

The Howling

Cronos

The Exorcist

Clownhouse

Phantom of the Paradise

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy

The Sentinel

I, Madman

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Paranormal Activity

Dracula A.D. 1972

Toolbox Murders (remake)

Just Before Dawn

The House of the Devil

Christine

Scream 2

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead

I Walked With a Zombie

The Legend of Hell House

The Hand

Dog Soldiers

Dr. Giggles

The Night Stalker

X - The Man With X-Ray Eyes

Man's Best Friend

THE BLOB

C.H.U.D.

Cold Prey

Halloween II

Fright Night

John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness

The Thing From Another World

Cat People

DON'T FORGET....

FMWL's Hammer Films Month Screen Grab Challenge!.....

ends today! I'm taking emails up until 5PM CST, which is 6PM on the East Coast, 3 PM on the West Coast and 9AM somewhere else (where I can't ship a prize).  Sorry, 9AM people!

So, get to naming those 40 screenshots, and check for some clues that have popped up over at FMWL's Facebook Page over the past two weeks! 

In the meantime, here's a video of a thing. Be well, Midnight Warriors!

Midnight Movie of the Week #42 - Night Creatures (aka, Captain Clegg)

More Oliver Reed!

Seriously, dude seems to be everywhere I look as I travel through Hammer's flicks that interest me.  This week I set up for a revisit of the 1962 pirate-themed horror mystery, Night Creatures, which features Peter Cushing, Reed, and (Reed's voluptuous Curse of the Werewolf co-star) Yvonne Romain.  I had fond memories of this one from its debut on DVD earlier this decade, but it had slipped deep into the vague "Oh yeah, I loved that once!" corners of my mind over the years.  In fact, I remembered Reed having a much smaller part in the film...but alas, he's near everywhere.

The film's opening scene takes us to sea in the year 1776, as the evil Captain Clegg rules the high seas and reigns over all who dare to cross him.  This includes an intimidating bald fellow, who has his tongue cut out and his ear's severed because he may have cavorted with the Captain's lady friend.  The traitor is left tied to a post on a deserted shore, with a message that those who betray Captain Clegg shall perish.  The film then jumps ahead to 1792, where we see the grave of Captain Clegg, who himself was hanged for his crimes back in 1776.

The home of Clegg's grave is the Romney Marshes, which are told to be on the shore of England that faces France.  This location lends itself to smuggling, and some scrolling details tell us that the smuggling of wine and brandy were common at the time.  These words also warn us of the infamous "Marsh Phantoms" that haunted the countryside at this time, and the following sequence reveals these horrifying skeleton-like creatures on horseback to the viewer.  This is all set up for the majority of the film, which focuses on the villagers and the investigation into the Phantom legend by Captain Collier (played by Patrick Allen).

(Note from The Mike: Wondering how the film got its title?  Originally, Hammer had planned to adapt Richard Matheson's I am Legend under the title Night Creatures, and was making this film under the title Captain Clegg.  When the censors told them there's no way they'd back their vision of Matheson's story - and they'd already promised Universal a film called Night Creatures - this one adopted that title.)

 Going forward, the film plays more like a classic mystery film than a horror film.  Allen's protruding jaw and stern disposition make for a fine skeptic, and as he inspects the town and its figurehead - Reverend Blyss, played by Cushing - the plot reveals itself pretty easily.  There is a surprise twist in the finale, but the actions of Cushing's Blyss and his followers (including Reed as a young man in love with a beautiful girl) are pretty obvious at times.  That doesn't detract from the film, because the production is handled beautifully by director Peter Graham Scott and writer Anthony Hinds.  (Making this one of the few Hammers I've come across this month with no Sangster or Fisher!)

(Note from the Mike: One more random fact - Romain played Reed's mother the previous year in The Curse of the Werewolf.  And now they're smooching on screen.  Ewwww.)

The appearance of the phantoms is probably the most memorable - and haunting - part of the film.  While the effects are a little dated - certain camera angles seem to see straight through the costumes - the visions of these glow-in-the-dark skeletons riding at terrified villagers can be quite chilling.  There are also a couple of wonderful scenes where a scarecrow becomes part of the action.  I've always been a bit terrified of scarecrows on film, even if I can recognize the eyes inside them.

Most of all, Night Creatures is just a fun little film.  This won't win the hearts of hardcore horror fans and might be a little too Scooby Doo for everyone's tastes, but Cushing and Reed are in top form, Romain looks great, and there are a few creepy images that stick with you.  The finale is fittingly pulled from the Universal Horror template, and the mixture of old-school horror and old-school detective trappings won me over.  It might make a better Sunday afternoon matinee with the kids than it would a midnight movie, but I think there's enough there to earn Night Creatures a viewing from any fan of classic horror.

(Note from The Mike: Last time, but I have to point out that the village doctor is, apparently, the original Dr. Pepper!  Listen to the trailer, you'll hear his name!)

(Note from The Mike: OK, one more almost totally unrelated note!  Remember that band that was the best thing about Rob Zombie's Halloween II?  (Yeah, not saying much.)  But they're named after this film, too!  It's Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures!)

Hammer Films Month - The Curse of Frankenstein

I've never been the biggest fan of Hammer's take on Frankenstein, at least based on what I've seen in this film and their last Frankenstein flick, Frankenstein and The Monster from Hell.  It's not them, it's me.  The fact of the matter, despite my upbringing with Karloff, is that I am ridiculously in love with Mary Shelley's vision of Frankenstein.  And it's a known fact that no one - EVER - has told the story as well as she did when it comes to understanding the damned creature that made Karloff famous.  Even though this version promised Christopher Lee (Yes, THAT Christopher Lee!) as the monster, I once again couldn't get past some of the ways in which the film missed the marks Shelley set.

As I watched the film again today, I felt the strangest tingle go down my spine.  It was a rare moment of realization; the type that made me notice that I'd been approaching this film from the wrong angle.  While I love the monster, and I love Colin Clive's simple turn as his creator in the 1931 film - I had never really considered how fascinating Doctor Frankenstein could be on film until I sat and pondered Peter Cushing's turn in the role.

 At a brief 83 minutes, The Curse of Frankenstein is a relatively basic retelling of the story.  This could be due to the fact that writer Jimmy Sangster (who would become Hammer's top scribe during their horror era) was at the time writing only his second script after being converted from his role as aproduction assistant.  He sticks to the basic ideas of the characters from the legendary story - Doctor Frankenstein (Cushing), his bride-to-be Elizabeth (Hazel Court), his mentor/friend Paul (Robert Urquhart), and - eventually - Lee as the Monster (billed as "Creature", much to the dismay of the Black Lagoon fellow that debuted a few years earlier).  If you've seen the '31 flick or any other Frankenstein flick/ripoff or read the book, you can guess where the movie goes with these characters - there aren't many surprises.

(Note from The Mike: If you ever want to prove to someone that the Creature from the Black Lagoon doesn't belong with Universal's classic monsters, point out the fact that the first Creature flick occurred three years before Hammer's remakes of Universal's monsters started to happen - which was 26 years after the release of Frankenstein.  I personally love my Creature and thus don't care, but those of you who dig this argument can have my knowledge anyway.)

Cushing's portrayal of Victor Frankenstein seems to be the definitive portrait of a scientist who's gone off the reservation.  His intense glares have a hint of evil beneath them, but also do a number to establish the lust for success that would be his personal and professional undoing.  One of my biggest problems with many adaptations of the Frankenstein tale is that they forget to punish the Doctor for his crimes, and sometimes they don't even acknowledge his fault in the matter.  That's most definitely not the case here, because Cushing turns the character into someone we kind of despise from the start.  Sure, we feel a bit of remorse when the brute that he loosed on the world attacks him or his chesty bride, but he's most certainly not a victim.

Then there's the monster opposite him.  You all know that I love Christopher Lee like I love living, but I must admit that his portrayal of the creature leaves something to be desired.  I can't blame him, as this is probably one of those situations where the film simply doesn't meet predetermined expectations (There aren't any neck studs, and the creature just doesn't have the imposing size of Karloff).  There are hints of the emotional distress that is present in the text, but not enough to really get me involved with the monster.  Again, I can't put this on Lee, who emotes well; it's just not my kind of monster.

None of that really matters, because this is Cushing's film - and I really do think he gives a flawless performance as the Doctor.  A week ago I had this earmarked as a film I might skip during Hammer Month, but I'm glad I stopped to give it another spin.  This performance is too good to ignore, and it helped me dig Curse of Frankenstein a lot more than I did during my initial viewings.  While I prefer a more suave Lee, I'm ready to accept this as a fine piece of Hammer Horror at last.

Hammer Films Month - These Are the Damned

I went into Hammer's 1963 sci-fi flick These Are the Damned almost completely blind.  (Of course, I don't mean I was physically blind, more that I was blind to the film's trappings.  If you thought I was physically blind, you probably thought I was silly for having a movie blog.  But I digress...)  All I knew about the film, directed by Joseph Losey (a Wisconsin born director who defected to Britain after being accused of communist subversion by the House Un-American Activities Committee), was that it was a well regarded sci-fi film that promised some type of damnation.  That's all you need to know about a movie, right?

Truthfully, I could have used a little more information going into the film, because - for at least the first half hour of the film - I had no idea what it was going on about.  The opening scenes show the effects of a leather-clad "teenage" gang and their leader, King (Oliver Reed), a non-leather clad fellow with a dagger in his umbrella and a penchant for whistling.  After King and his gang assault an American tourist (Macdonald Carey), said tourist takes up with King's sister Joan (Shirley Anne Field).  In the meantime, a driftwood carver (Viveca Lindfors, Creepshow's Aunt Bedelia) presents an ominous "graveyard bird" sculpture to a mysterious fellow played by Alexander Knox.  We find out that Knox's Bernard is working at a military facility with some secluded children, and we find that Lindfors' Freya is renting a cottage from him near the base.  In the meantime, King chases the tourist and Joan to the seaside cottage, and the characters' paths officially cross.

In the set-up, there's a lot of talk about "the era of senseless violence" spoken by Bernard and Lindfors - cementing the fact that they share a dreary perspective on life.  We're also sure early on that King is more than just a street bully, mostly because Reed gives the character an evil charm that hints of psychosis.  These are just two of the ways that the picture the film paints is incredibly bleak - and we really haven't even met the children.  The film's plot really takes off when the tourist and Joan, followed by King, jump the fence into the military facility and encounter those children.

I'm not sure how much more I really want to say about the plot behind These Are the Damned, because it's so unique.  I will say that the 1950s' favorite sci-fi topic - atomic power/the danger of radiation - is of course involved, but the method of distribution for this gimmick is different than anything I'd expect.  This is Godzilla without a lizard, focusing on the dangers that those who come into contact with this plague without letting them know what towers over them.

 Let's jump back to those children.  As they're shown in their underground home, secluded from any adults that don't appear on a television screen, it's hard not to see them as livestock.  There's an obvious connection to the famed American flick Village of the Damned, but never does this film feel like a retread.  These aren't emotionless souls, they're real children who simply don't know what they're up against.  One of the most heartbreaking things about seeing the film unveil its plot is the realization that these children are the ultimate victims of "the era of senseless violence".

The final act brings all the film's ideas to light, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it all a bit over-zealous.  Despite plenty of opportunities to cop out, the film maintains a dark vision of these characters and their predicament all the way through the final frame.  The film also features some realistically creepy moments, particularly a first person tracking shot in which someone - or something - makes its way across the children's school house/dormitory.  Considering when the film was made, this moment of putting us inside the mind of the killer is far ahead of its time.  It's just another example of how Losey - a director who knows the cruelty of government paranoia first hand - keeps the viewer on edge for the length of the film.

These Are the Damned is another example of Hammer Films pushing the boundaries of genre cinema, and is yet another title that surprised me from their back catalog.  This is a relevant sci-fi film that carries a lot of weight, even if the plot's twists border on cheesy.  I'm excited to see it again, because this might quickly become one of my favorite sci-fi films of the 1960s - if not any decade. 

If you're at all interested, These Are the Damned is available to view online via Crackle (for freez!), and will be playing on October 22nd (aka THIS FRIDAY!) on Turner Classic Movies as part of their night of Hammer sci-fi (start time = 11:15 PM EST)!  Do yourself a favor and make time for this Damned movie!

Hammer Films Month - The Anniversary

(Note from The Mike: It's been a slow weekend here at FMWL, but I thought I'd give you all a little trip back in time.  Here's a review I wrote in my old format during the early days of FMWL, (2/25/09, to be exact) on one of Hammer's oddest films. Enjoy!)
1968, Dir. by Roy Ward Baker

The legendary Hammer Films studio is known primarily for their recreations of Universal's classic monsters, specifically their run of Dracula films from 1958-1974 that usually featured Christopher Lee. What a lot of film fans don't know starting out is that Hammer also produced a slew of other films in genres that range from prehistoric epics to swashbucklers to even the occasional dark comedy starring a Hollywood legend. That would be this one.

The Anniversary stars the legendary Bette Davis as a one-eyed mother of three, much to the dismay of '80s songstress Kim Carnes (you know, who sang Bette Davis Eyes). She's vicious and manipulative, and one heck of twisted blast to behold.

The Plot
Mrs. Taggart (Davis) and her sons run the family carpentry business, despite Mr. Taggart's passing years before. However, things are less than friendly. Her oldest son, Henry, is a pervert who steals women's clothing (but at least leaves money on the clotheslines) for his own pleasure. The middle son, Terry is married with five kids and a sixth on the way, but his tired of his mother's control and plans to move to Canada with the family as an escape. And the youngest, Tom, is a smart-aleck who can't wait to show off his new young fiancee to mom, and to do whatever it takes to shut her up.

I know you're probably thinking "Hey, that's an interesting group of characters! I wonder if there's some kind of event that could bring them together for entertainment's sake?". Well, that's why the movie's called The Anniversary. Duh.

The Good
No commentary on this film could possible begin with anything but Davis' turn as Mrs. Taggart. Billed as "the most MERCILESS mother of them all!" in promotional materials, Davis hams it up with glee, taking joy in the fact she's unleashed as such a diabolical character. This was her second tour with Hammer after the known The Nanny three year's earlier, but it's clear that she is having a lot of fun with the comedic evil she shows in this film. She also does a great job of interacting with the rest of the cast, and holds the proceedings together quite nicely.

Thankfully, it's a two way street, and the rest of the cast holds their own against the overbearing matriarch. Sheila Hancock is most effective as Terry's controlling wife who's mother's archnemesis for most of the film, and Elaine Taylor gets in some chops as young Tom's fiancee Shirley. There's an interesting dynamic throughout the film in regard to the female characters taking control of the males in their relationships (in fact, it could be said that Henry's perversion is an effort to compensate for the lack of a controlling woman of his own). This plays heavily in the final act, as Davis' mother pits everyone against each other while watching with glee.

The film is directed by Roy Ward Baker who made a lot of horror for Hammer (including their Kung Fu crossover The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires), but also directed Marilyn Monroe in another dark comedy, Don't Bother to Knock, and the original Titanic epic A Night to Remember. He doesn't get a chance to use his varied skills in this very staged production (which was adapted from a play by master Hammer scribe Jimmy Sangster), but he paces the film extremely well. There's a lot going on throughout the day the film takes place in (even fireworks!), and he and Sangster do a great job of bringing it all together without confusion.

The Bad
The biggest complaint I had with The Anniversary came in the final act. As the plot continues to escalate by the mother pitting everyone against each other, there are a few revelations and plot devices that take the film a bit too far over the line that separates dark comedy from twisted psychodrama. Particular alarming are a couple of tricks involving possibly dead children which, while serving their purpose of proving how vile Mother is, come off as incredibly harsh and slightly difficult to stomach. Of course, there's also the question of why these characters would even give such a demanding and inhuman character so much attention, which is not always answered in regard to each character. The film never dwells too much on these faults or lets them get out of hand, thankfully, but it treads close to uncomfortable ground often enough that many viewers could be turned off to the film in general.

Random Moments

• Davis' eyepatch is a crucial plot point in the second act, and I'm partially glad it was explained...but on the other hand, just letting her have an eyepatch should be enough to prove evil exists! (I'm guessing they had to distinguish her from a pirate, hence the explanation).
• Don't miss the strange revelation of the young Shirley's "flaw"...a strange defect that seems kinda cooky...before you consider the rest of the film.
• Also memorable is a short scene in which Terry and Karen's children are shown to be quite scared by Grandma's eccentricities. I wouldn't have gone near her, either.

The Verdict
The Anniversary is about as dark as a comedy of its era could be, and I admire the fearlessness of all involved. With Davis taking the lead and the capable family playing it straight faced, it takes a while for the film to grab ahold of the viewer. Hours after viewing the film, I can't help but shake my head in surprise at a lot of the twists, and smile at the all-out tenacity of Baker's adaptation. The Anniversary is a strange entry into Hammer's canon, but I think it's a welcome addition that I'd recommend to anyone interested in a twisted family tale or a high-cheese star performance.

Midnight Movie of the Week #41 - Maniac

(Note from The Mike: Yeah, it's Hammer Films Month.  I know.  But I've got five MMOTW spots to fill this month, and I thought tonight would be a good mid-month break point.  Fear not, the Hammer will be back this weekend.  Tonight, I want to talk about one of the movies I've seen recently that - surprisingly - has been haunting me for some time.)

There's something not right about Frank Zito, and it's a terrible shame.  The main character in William Lustig's 1980 flick Maniac - a splatter/slasher flick based around a "mommy complex" that resides somewhere between Psycho and Pieces - is one of the most pardoxical characters I've ever found in a horror film.  And that paradox - not the gooey, bloody, crazy-violent and gooey bits of the film - is where Maniac digs its knives into my mind.

Played by Joe Spinell, who co-wrote the film after creating the character for himself, Frank is a rather unsightly fellow with a poor complexion and a minor weight problem.  His hair and clothes are unkempt, and he lives alone in an incredibly strange room with some mannequins, photographs, and weapons.  At times, he likes to go out in the morning, put on a ski mask, and strangle lovers on the beach.  Other times, he heads out to pick up prostitutes and strangle them to death.  On occasion, he takes a shotgun to disco-loving lovers and makes the inside of their head look like melted red cabbage.  Frank is, of course, a maniac.  But there's also something tragically interesting about him.

I must admit that one of my biggest reasons for feeling this way is the film's female lead - my beloved Caroline Munro.  In a Beauty & The Beast-esque twist of fate, Frank meets a fashion photographer (with the fetching name Anna D'Antoni) who caught a picture of him in the park.  Frank doesn't like the fact that he's been captured by her camera - his hobbies don't mix well with being caught on film - and seeks Anna out.  But he begins to like her company when he meets her - and she reciprocates.  Suddenly, Frank is no longer just an ugly man who kills people and takes their scalps.  He's a bumbling-yet-honest, odd-yet-endearing guy who can make a woman like Caroline Munro make happy eyes at his presence!

We're not quite talking about Norman Bates here.  Unlike Anthony Perkins' turn as that unhinged killer, there's always something about Spinell's Frank that's unsettling to the viewer.  This isn't the Hollywood image of what a flawed man who's gone terribly bad looks like, because Maniac is a piece of guerrilla filmmaking that doesn't have to answer to what we'd expect from Hollywood.  Despite Spinell's natural appearance - which is unnatural in cinematic terms - we can kind of feel the connection with him that Munro's Anna does, even when he does something silly like say "You're the most beautiful woman I've seen since my mother".  We've also seen him brutally murder at least a half-dozen people before he meets Anna, yet we still start to wonder if there's something salvageable about him.

(I mentioned the guerrilla aspects of the film, and I'm not exaggerating.  The film was shot entirely on location in New York City, and Lustig and the crew often didn't have permits to film.  The famous scene in which Tom Savini's head is blown to bits was one of these times, and is alleged to have been filmed in less than an hour!)

Then there's that mother.  The fatally named Carmen Zito haunts poor Frank's mind, and drives him to these acts of cruelty.  Her impact becomes clearer as the film rolls on, and our sympathy for Frank rises while we become more afraid of what he's capable of.  There are some particular shots - especially one that's borrowed from Carrie - that bring out the mother's power over Frank, and they had me thinking about the film in a much different manner than I expected to.  I can't say I was behind Frank, because he scared me.  But I wanted to believe there was something good inside him, just like Caroline Munro did. (By the way, this is one of three films Munro made with Spinell, which makes me incredibly jealous of him.)

There's no mistaking the fact that Maniac is a bloody bit of repulsive trash cinema at heart, but I say that in the nicest way possible.  This film creates a lot of tension by placing Frank in undesirable locations with undesirable people and reminding us just how brutal he can be.  We can't miss the fact that this man has unhealthy murderous bouts of rage.  But we see him fight to be normal, we see him fight to deal with this, and it's a bit sad to see the results.  As the film wraps up Frank's story, we begin to understand that this is all about Frank and his mother, and that none of his victims - or Munro as Anna - really matter in the grand scheme of things.  The poor fellow never had a chance, and did what he had to to meet his needs.

But while we're sad for him, we're reminded that he could strangle us with a piano wire or bury a knife in our chest at any moment.  That's the kind of horrifying something you simply don't get from a grindhouse gore flick very often.  It left me feeling that Maniac was indeed an exploitative film that's plenty difficult to watch, but it's also one I won't forget.

(And yes, if you're wondering, that song from Flashdance was actually written for this movie!  The lyrics were changed for that film, obviously.)

Hammer Films Month Midnight Top Five - Awesome Hammer Films Alumni (Not Named Lee or Cushing)

Everybody loves Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and they're right to do so.  But a lot of people who we know and love cut their teeth in Hammer Films before they made it big.  This Midnight Top Five shall bring light to their contributions at Hammer, and show off some of their later achievements.  Let's get at it!

 Oliver Reed - Reed is probably the most famous star of Hammer that isn't Lee or Cushing, appearing in 116 movies throughout his career.  Hammer fans know him as a leader of former MMOTW Curse of the Werewolf and the Psycho tinted Paranoiac.  Reed appeared in six films for Hammer between 1961 and 1963, including roles opposite both Lee (The Pirates of Blood River) and Cushing (Night Creatures).  He also appeared in the well-regarded sci-fi flick These Are The Damned during this stretch.

Reed went on to become one of Britain's most loved actors, and transitioned to Hollywood roles too.  You've probably seen him in his final film, Gladiator, one of two films he appeared in to win an Oscar for Best Picture (Oliver! was the other.)  He also appeared in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen for Terry Gilliam, the rock musical Tommy, and The Three/Four Musketeers films of the mid '70s.  Horror fans also know him from Dan Curtis' Burnt Offerings and Ken Russell's controversial The Devils.

Caroline Munro - Someone who needs no introduction at FMWL is Caroline Munro, one of The Mike's greatest loves.  At the beginning of her career, Munro appeared in two very different vampire films for Hammer.  In Dracula A.D. 1972, Munro plays a free-spirited young woman who willingly offers herself to Lee's Dracula.  In the other, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (another former MMOTW!), she teams up with the undeniable Horst Janson to take on a family of undead youth-suckers.

Originally a model, Munro would get into plenty of film roles throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  At the same time she was with Hammer she also popped up in both Dr. Phibes films as Vincent Price's late wife, and got to go swashbuckling on The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.  She would become a Bond girl in The Spy Who Loved Me (beating out the stunning Barbara Bach for the "Hottest Gal in the Film" Championship), and then led the epic sci-fi cheesefest Starcrash.  She would hit horror hard in the early '80s, starring with Joe Spinnell in Maniac and The Last Horror Film, and appearing in Slaughter High.

Raquel Welch - A lot of people forget the fact that the iconic image of Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. was produced by none other than Hammer Films.  Welch had already made a name for herself - slightly because of her appearance in Fantastic Voyage, primarily because of her looks - but it was most certainly that production photo turned best-selling poster that really earned her sex symbol status.

Welch wasn't done acting, though, and would carve out a nice career for herself in the last '60s and '70s.  Notable titles include the spy comedy Fathom, the western 100 Rifles (opposite NFL star Jim Brown, whom she shared a controversial kiss with), police comedy Fuzz (starring Rifles co-star Burt Reynolds), Myra Breckinridge (in which she played a transsexual lead that audiences laughed at), and the roller derby drama Kansas City Bomber (which The Mike totally loves).

Michael Gough - Alongside Cushing and Lee in Hammer's first Dracula film (Horror of Dracula, to be exact) was Michael Gough, a proper actor who excelled in genre films of the era.  Gough also co-starred in another Hammer adaptation of Universal's work, The Phantom of the Opera, in 1962.  Between these Hammer films, Gough also appeared in Horrors of the Black Museum and the King Kong ripoff Konga.

Gough would go on to star in a lot of films later in his career (TROG, anyone?), but would become most famous as loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth in Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher's Batman films.  Gough's Pennyworth, without question, was a young The Mike's absolute favorite things about these movies (except for when Val Kilmer was there, because Val Kilmer rules).  I remember being physically upset when Gough's life was threatened in Batman & Robin, and still proclaim that this was that film's biggest crime against cinema.  Oh, and if you want more horror, Gough appeared uncredited in The Legend of Hell House, showed up in Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow, and re-teamed with Burton on Sleepy Hollow, too.

Charles Gray - OK, Charles, you do know that there's such a thing as "bad touching", right?  HANDS TO YOURSELF!

That said, I've never hid the fact that my favorite Hammer film is The Devil Rides Out (or, The Devil's Bride, depending on who you ask).  (Oh, and that was FMWL's first Midnight Movie of the Week!)  Gray stars as the wicked cult leader Mocata opposite Lee's heroic lead, and harnesses the same skills he would use in two different James Bond films, You Only Live Twice and (my personal favorite Bond) Diamonds are Forever, where he plays the super-villain Blofeld.

Of course, Gray is probably most famous for his brief role in the '70s cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (He also returned for the "sequel", Shock Treatment).  Gray hit a few more big films during the 1970s, playing Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft in the out-of-print The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, plus showing up opposite Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood and opposite Cushing in The Beast Must Die.

There are plenty of other fine actors and actresses I could list that starred in Hammer Land, but I'll save them for another day.  For now, let us remember these fine folks, and the impact Hammer had on their careers!  Here's hoping the new Hammer Films regime can do the same for a new generation of stars!